Jashodaben Modi

Jashodaben Chimanlal Modi is the wife of Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat.
Jashodaben was married to Modi in his native village of Vadnagar in Mehsana district. She was just 18 at that time while Narendra Modi was 20 years old. She was not highly educated at the time and had only studied up to Class VII. This factor seems to have put a strain on their marriage. A few months after the wedding, Jashodaben was sent back to her fathers house in order to complete her education. In a bid to win back her husband, she started schooling again in Dholaka and managed to complete her Senior secondary (matriculation) in 1972. Thereafter she went on to do a primary teachers course. However, Narendra Modi continued to live separately.
Current status
Jashodaben Modi continued to live a life of anonymity till 2009 when a team of journalists covering the election campaign in Gujarat tracked her down to a small village called Rajosana in rural Gujarat, where she had been teaching at a primary school since 1991. As per govt rules, she retired in October 2010 when she turned 58 years of age.
Personal life
Jashodaben Modi has been a symbol of grit and determination. Despite suffering the ignominy of having been abandoned just a few months after marriage, she was determined to stand on her own two feet and be self-reliant. Refusing to be weighed down by circumstances, She completed her education by 1972 and went on to become a school teacher.
Apart from sheer grit, Jashodaben is known for her simplicity. Despite earning a monthly salary of over , an income that could guarantee a good house in the rural settings where she lives, Jashodaben chooses to live in a tin shack measuring barely 100 sq ft.
Relationship with Narendra Modi
Despite the case grabbing national headlines, Narendra Modi has himself maintained a stoic silence on the issue of his legally wedded wife, on occasion walking out of interviews when questioned by the inquisitive journalists. People close to Jashodaben say that despite the outer veneer of grit, she, like any other Indian woman, longs for a call from her estranged husband, asking her to come and stay with him.
People close to her say that she was married to Modi in his native village, Vadnagar, in Mehsana district, when she was 18. At the time of her marriage, she had studied only up to Class VII. That is believed to have put a strain on their marriage. (Also, according to a villager, Jashodaben does not like to be photographed as she believes she is not good looking.) A few days after the marriage, Jashodaben was sent back to her father Chimanlal’s house to complete her education. As those who know her say, in a bid to please her husband and measure up to his exacting standards, she started studying in Dholaka and completed her SSC (old pattern) in 1972. Then she completed a primary teachers course and worked in Ahmedabad for three months.
Subsequently, on 23 March 1978, Jashodaben joined a primary school in Dekwali village in Banaskantha district. She was later transferred to the District Panchayat School in Roopal village where she worked for 12 years. On 2 December 1991, she came to Rajosana village, where she currently lives. Villagers say that though she has been to Ahmedabad occasionally, she was never asked to stay on by her husband.
Jashodaben, a first standard teacher at the Rajosana Primary School, is very popular among her Muslim students. Muslim women in the village, none of whom were willing to be quoted, say that Modi’s estranged wife is shaping the personalities of Muslim children through her diligence as a teacher. They seem to like her. But the 57-year-old will be retiring in October.
“Narendrabhai Modi is a national leader. He is intelligent and good looking. Jashodaben may not be able to match him. But she is his wife; he has married her. He must take her back to live with him,” says a village elder.
When I met her at the school, Jashodaben was as excited as a child and could not stop smiling. She expressed a desire to talk and tell her tale. But the principal of the school, Pravinkumar P Vyas, admonished her for talking to a journalist. “You will only talk to them after school hours. Now go back to your class,” Vyas told her.
She pleaded, “Can I talk to her during the break? It will only take a few minutes.” But the principal was unrelenting.
She left the room meekly, only to come back soon. She said,“I will not say anything against my husband. He is very powerful. This job is all I have to survive. I am afraid of the consequences.” She then went back to her classroom.
Meanwhile, the principal had made a call from his mobile phone to inform somebody that Jashodaben had visitors. He then went to meet her in her classroom. After that, she became a different person. She smiled no more, her excitement was gone and she looked nervous. She kept wringing her hands. When I approached her again, she screamed, asking to be left alone. But as she walked away, she gestured to suggest that she would talk later.

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